The above-referenced disclosure filed May 2, 1988 contains a thorough discussion of the prior art pertinent to the present invention and such disclosure is incorporated herein by reference and made a part hereof.
In the earlier disclosure, it was mentioned that biological particles to be fused onto tissue in the host animal or plant are deposited on a support means and brought into physical contact with tissue at the preselected electrofusion site. Mechanical pressure is applied to the support means to bring the particles and tissue into still closer physical contact and a DC pulse generator is activated to achieve the desired electrofusion.
A second or ground electrode was positioned in electrical communication with a second preselected anatomical area, and one or more DC pulses were passed from the first electrode to ground through the anatomical tissue between said first and second preselected anatomical areas.
Accordingly, the disclosed apparatus included no specific means for confining the path of electrical current as it flowed through the body of the host from the first electrode to the second. Since electrical current follows the path of least resistance, a pulse applied to the first electrode could travel along many differing paths throughout the animal or human's body before arriving at the ground electrode. Thus, the earlier apparatus was restricted to low current applications.
There is a need for an improved cell-tissue, tissue-tissue and liposome-tissue fusion apparatus that restricts current flow to the inter-electrode space only, but the prior art contains no teachings or suggestions concerning how the art could be advanced.